Defense Technology International - January/February 2008 - (Page 41) ations, can perform much of the mission with the crew’s hands o the controls. It has redundant systems for safety. Flight safety and integrity, however, depend on the crew; for example, the aircraft behaves di erently when landing with one engine inoperative and it is up to the pilots to fly the airplane accordingly. The unmanning process has to contend with the fact that the flight control system, as part of its redundancy, includes a manual mode, which is useless on a UAV. Boeing is working with Honeywell, which provides the FMS hardware, to develop a layer of automation and remote monitoring that will be added to existing controls and displays. Boeing and Honeywell may not be alone in this e ort. Israel is developing a system of total airborne surveillance based on the G550, including the Conformal Airborne Early Warning aircraft, signals intelligence and ground surveilNORTHROP GRUMMAN inherent reliability, with a single engine and simple systems, was accepted to meet goals. But UAVs that have expensive sensor payloads, operate in international airspace and support 24-hr. patrol orbits will have to be reliable. “We need to move that way if we want to expand the performance envelope, or even be reliable under wartime conditions within the current envelope,” one source argues. “It might be a very good thing if the Navy refuses to accept the fragility of a Global Hawk or Mariner.” Good progress with the P-8A should also bolster Boeing’s BAMS bid. The fuselage for the first aircraft is due to be shipped from subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems to Boeing’s assembly line in Renton, Wash., early this year. The first of three flight-test aircraft is slated to fly in 2009, on track for initial operational capability (IOC) in the last quarter of FY2013. Sensors, which in this architecture are peripherals, are based on proven technology on the P-3C. For example, the Raytheon APY-10 radar is an upgraded version of the P-3’s APS-137(V)5 with a digital back end. Changes to the airframe, based on the 737-800, are extensive but not considered high-risk. They include higher-powered generators, hardpoints for external stores and other payloads, and a rear-fuselage weapon bay. (MPAs, particularly those operating at high altitudes, need internal weapon bays because some torpedo propellants are susceptible to freezing.) The software is the biggest and most critical part of the program. Capt. Mike Moran, program manager, says that the Navy has driven Boeing to collect an unprecedented amount of data, as the code has been produced through a build-test-fix cycle. “It has Northrop Grumman has used a Gulfstream II to demonstrate sensor and communications technology for BAMS. lance aircraft. IAI-Elta engineers say that the IAF’s goal is to make the system unmanned. Another feature of the Boeing BAMS concept is commonality with the P-8A Poseidon, the Navy’s new manned maritime patrol aircraft. Raytheon, which provides the radar for the P-8A, is the sensor-package partner on the Boeing BAMS team, and communications hardware will also be common. “A P-8A crew on a non-flying day could go into a room that looks like the back of a P-8A and operate a BAMS mission, with the same operator-machine interfaces and software. Press a button and it will do the same thing,” says Boeing’s Tim Norgart, business development manager for BAMS and P-8A. In fact, some UAV observers argue that Boeing’s approach has distinct advantages. They say the Global Hawk su ers from its origins—a Darpa program where the goal was an unrealistic $10-million flyaway cost—and that lower www.aviationweek.com/dti At the same time, hardware is being delivered to the P-8A System Integration Laboratory in Kent, Wash., and software—2.4 million lines of Windows and Linux code—is being completed. In February, Boeing and the Navy will hold their next round of talks with Australia, which is expected to become the first international participant in the P-8A program (DTI March 2007, p. 22). Australia is interested in taking an active role in Spiral 1, the first stage of improvements to the P-8A following IOC. The P-8A is also in competition with an A319 MPA development, equipped with the EADS Fully Integrated Tactical System, for an initial eight-aircraft order by the Indian navy. This deal could grow to 30-plus aircraft. The goals for the IOC configuration of the P-8A are to introduce the airframe—badly needed to replace P-3s, which are wearing out rapidly—and an open systems architecture, based on COTS technology. provided tremendous insight” into the productivity of the process, he says, allowing the Navy and Boeing to push toward a standard of 2.2-2.4 manhours per line of completed code. The Navy has also been firm about not changing requirements, Moran says. P3s have been heavily tasked in overland operations, especially in Afghanistan, where they act as surveillance and command and communications platforms for ground operators—particularly groups that don’t have direct line-of-sight communications. The P-8A as specified can perform those missions, Moran says. The Spiral 1 upgrade is funded under the 2008 Program Objective Memorandum and will mostly focus on anti-submarine warfare upgrades, mainly in the acoustic realm. This includes the integration of sonobuoys and software, and will be conducted in parallel with the P-3C fleet. Spiral 2 is “at the conversation stage,” says Moran, but is likely to address communications. I 41 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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